Recent blog entries

See all of theone86's wrestlingmarks blog (21 total)

• Raw Review-4/28/08

  Posted on 5/1/08 12:21 AM

  So it kinda sucks watching a post-PPV Raw and not knowing what's going on, and it sucks more writing a review without proper context, but I'll do my best. First off, I'll give a quick Backlash rundown based on what I did see and what I read.
  
  -Matt Hardy vs. MVP was the only full match I saw. It rocked ass.
  
  -I saw the beginning of Kane vs. Chavo. It had a decent work, but nothing special. I heard how it ended, and it's a really cheap ending for a PPV. It would have been good, except that both Chavo and Eddie have pulled this ending multiple times, I think with both Kane and Taker.
  
  -Big Show vs. Khali would've been my bathroom break, or would it have been the Diva match? Meh, no use splitting hairs.
  
  -I'll bet Michaels vs. Batista was a great match. It sounded good, and it sounded like Michales came off as a little bit of a heel at the end. I wouldn't mind seeing this program continue, but PLEASE do more to build it than just cut some promos.
  
  -Beth squashed what's her face with the breasts, big deal.
  
  -I don't know how wise it is to have Edge lose cleanly to Taker twice in a row, especially by submission. I'd say their fued is pretty much dead (pun intended), and restarting it is going to take a little more than dirty politics from Vicki Guerrero. It's kind of puzzling thinking about Taker's next opponent. Edge? taken out of the picture. Batista? Blew his shot and pulled a PPV job. Big Show? Probably the only logical contender, and the one I'd most like to see.
  
  -I didn't see the match, so I can't give a complete comment, but the thing I hate the most about Cena is the way he uses the STFU. It's a mockery to classic submission wrestling, and I would happily watch every one of his matches with a smile if he would just stop using that move, and possibly the Sicilian Slice as well. It sounds like the big story of this match was Orton vs. Triple H, though, which automatically makes me ask, why not bill them as the main event? This card could've easily had another high-caliber match, why not work a JBL/Cena program during April that leads up to a Backlash grudge match? But that's just my two cents. It sounds like Triple H and Orton really went at it, and this is another match I wish I could see. I'm glad Triple H got the win. It sounds like the program between him and Orton is far from over, and I can't wait to see them take it to the next level.
  
  On to Raw
  
  I'm so gald they're keeping Regal's gimmick serious. When I heard "coronation" I started having flashbacks to the 5+ minutes of, "all hail King Booker," from two years ago. If one person said all hail on Raw I would've put my remote straight through my TV set.
  
  Regal cut a GREAT promo to open Raw up. I'm not kidding, spectacular. Not one of these adrenaline-charged, gay-bashing, kiddie joke-laden, vein-in-the-forehead promos that we've all become accustomed to, but a very eloquent, calm, well-thought out statement in which he declared his dominance. I think the "what?" chants in the background gave it even more effect. I've always admired Regal in the ring, and now he's showing some great mic skills. I am getting more and more excited about his push each week.
  
  Mr. Kennedy came in and cut a pretty standard promo. He's no slouch on the mic, but I was much more impressed with Regal. Regal topped it off with a big left during Kennedy's signature scream, which led up to a brawl. Good set-up, I can't wait to see the rest of this fued.
  
  Chris Jericho took some smug shots at the nature of the WWE's silly segments, and I loved it. All except for a pretty tasteless take on a segement that was pretty tasteless to begin with. A small note to WWE creative: sodomy is NOT funny. You'd think they would've learned it by now, but they just keep going back to it like flies to honey.
  
  I smell a Michaels heel turn coming. I know everyone's predicting Jericho, but look at it. Batista doesn't trust Michaels, Jericho calls Michaels out, Michaels pulls out a superkick while Jericho is holding Batista back, Jericho calls him on it. I actually wouldn't mind seeing either one of them turn. I think all three of them have been playing the tweener game, where they all do slightly heelish things and see who gets the most cheers and who takes the most heat. I just want to see some sort of resolution followed by a fued.
  
  I'm sorry if I think "punishing" people onscreen is archaic, but it's the most ridiculous concept ever. Someone shows up on a rival show to see his friend, gets shown against his wishes, so we're going to put him in a bunch of hig-profile jobs. This is like schoolyard mentality, anyone older than 8 could probably tell you that. Again, WWE always complains about being taken seriously, well serious people don't settle grudges by putting the other person on TV and making him lose. If a recording artist were to make a public scandal, would they have their album pushed back to a date where it would sell less? Of course not. If a football player makes a scene, do they put him in a position on the field where he's going to look bad? No. If you want to be taken seriously, then conduct your business like any other serious business would.
  
  Not that I'm morally opposed to Robbie pulling jobs. In fact, that's part of the idiocracy of the situation. He was already pulling jobs on Heat, now you're going to bump him to pulling jobs for main eventers on TV to get back at him? You're doing him more good than harm. It's just stupid logic.
  
  JBL didn't look like he was being especially stiff, though. Not much to say about this match, just a squash. JBL cut a decent promo afterwards. I'd like to see him in a fued with Cena. I think there's a lot of history to play up there, and it would be the perfect opportunity for Cena to turn over a new leaf.
  
  Oh, this is rich, a BACKLASH rematch. I'll give them credit, they didn't do the normal Wrestlemania part 2 at Backlash that they usually do, but now on Raw they do a rematch of what wasn't a great match in the first place?
  
  I like seeing Kelly getting worked over. Regardless of skill, she's very green and it's good to see her pay some dues. She did have a nice spot against Victoria, but I still reserve final judgement, agains, because tag matches are easier to work. I really have no idea how well she can work at this point.
  
  Mickie James was absolutely electric. She pulled off some great spots, and was the highlight of the match. The heel side actually had 4 out of their 5 women in the match, with only two of them getting any working in at all. The face side got two women in there, and Mickie was the only one with any work. Why even have the other 8 Divas out there at all?
  
  I still can't tell where they're going. One thing I absolutely can not stand about the Women's division is how they refuse to build any one on one fueds. Every fued is basically a bunch of tag matches with a Title match, that might be a singles match, at the end. I'd really like to see Mickie and Beth go at it without all the other Divas getting their rub fill.
  
  I don't know that I've ever seen Santino Marella or Cody Rhodes in singles action before this, and most people would call that a good thing. Not me, however. I was impressed with what I saw from Rhodes. He had some good spots, although I can't comment on his work as he was the one getting worked over most of the match.
  
  Santino wasn't so impressive. He's not horrible, but he just goes around with that, "I'm gonna yell and do everything very fast and no-sell," attitude that I hate so much. He is just one of those guys who wrestles exclusively for himself. Plus, he doesn't do anything that's all that great as far as ring-work. I've never been a fan of his mic work, either. He just seems like a pretty below-average performer all-around.
  
  I'm no fan of Cody Rhodes' mic skills, either. I think he has the skill, he just needs some better lines. It's pretty obvious that Carlito is doing most of the heavy lifting in his team. With all the good teams feigning break-ups these days I have just one question, why not Carlito and Santino? I'd love to see Carlito move up the card, god knows he deserves it.
  
  It's also good to see Roddy Piper back. Santino had one good line when he asked Piper to do the Truffle Shuffle. Piper has put on a couple pounds, but he's still the Rowdy one we all know and love. I wonder if this was just a one-off or if he's going to do a program with Santino?
  
  London and Kendrick are back! And not soon enough. Thank god someone finally realized how hot these guys are. I still wish they would abandon this Cade and Murdock split, as I think both stutter on their own, but excell at tag competition.
  
  They put on a good match, but a short one. Like three minutes short. They're all great competitors and they hit some good spots, but I am drooling for more.
  
  Super Crazy made his Raw return! and he pulled a job. I really would like to see more of Super Crazy in legit competition. I have no clue why they don't move him to ECW so that he can compete against people that actually might job to him for once.
  
  I'm still creeped out by Paul Burchill's gimmick. I'd much rather see him team with Drew McIntyre as the new Bluebloods, possibly with Dave Taylor as a manager, although I think they've dropped both of them by now. It's a real shame they push FCW prospects like Kozlov but not ones like McIntyre.
  
  J.R. made a comment about not remembering any brother/sister tandems ever being in the WWE. I wonder if he's trying to disavow any knowledge of the failed Ken and Ryan Shamrock angle.
  
  Burchill and Super Crazy had a decent match. Nothing special at all, but decent. I'm also not much of a fan of his finisher. It's really not finisher caliber. It could work as one of his bigger spots, but he's got so many better moves that he could use as a finisher.
  
  On to the main event. I'm so glad to see TV Title defenses make a comeback, although I think TNA had the better idea announcing the match a week in advance to build hype. It really doesn't affect the match, but isn't the idea of theses matches to draw more viewers? And how are you drawing more viewers if you announce the match during the braodcast?
  
  I am VERY into Triple H and Orton's fued. I think they can both work an excellent program, and that they're building to a classic PPV match, although the next big PPV is still four months off. Orton and Triple H put on a good match that went for about 20 minutes. It featured some good working by both men. Triple H was very reminiscent of his Cerebral Assassin days, and Orton played the diabolical heel he's become so good at. There wasn't a lot of fast back-and-forth action, but there was a lot of working from both parties. It was maybe a little too much working considering the length of the match. I would've liked to have seen a couple more spots, and it did seem to drag as it went on. It did pick up near the end, but it still seemed like even then they were just pulling out their usual spots. Still, it was well worked and a pretty good match. I just know these guys can put on so much better.
  
  Now the ending. It actually wasn't as bad as everyone made it sound. I don't think anyone expected a clean finish to that match, so the fued continues and Regal gets some good heat. It does work well with Regal's character. Still, I think maybe having Regal do a run-in to establish himself might have been a better idea. Just cutting to black is such a cheap cop-out, I just, I...I...oh god, I'm having flashbacks...arrgh...such...bad...decision...don't...stop...believing...GAAAAAHHHHH, I MUST HAVE BLOOD! DAVID CHASE'S BLOOD!!! Oh, what? Ahem, I'm sorry for that. So yeah, bad ending and it wasn't even original.
  
  Overall, it was a good show. Solid, no filler, good matches all the way down the card. I'm starting to get a little tired of seeing two or more matches a night on Raw that top out at three minutes max, but hopefully they'll materialize into something soon. The main event was good, but not epic. Overall, the show was well above average.

  5 comments Permalink

• Remembering a Legend

  Posted on 4/30/08 9:48 PM

  Well, I was trying to post a Backlash Review, but I can't seem to find any matches on YouTube. Go figure, I can find ten different versions of every Mania match but I can't find a full Backlash card. Oh, well.
  
  This is the blog I am most disappointed about posting late. Two days ago marked the third anniversary of the death of one of the consumate performers of his generation, Chris Candido.
  
  Chris Candido was a second-generation wrestler, grandson of Chuck Richards, and was trined by Larry Sharpe, who also trained Bam Bam Bigelow and Kevin Von Erich. He started out wrestling for the World Wrestling Association before moving on to a fledgling ECW. He tagged with Chris Michaels and fellow Sharpe trainee Johnny Hotbody as the Suicide Blondes, and together they won the ECW Tag Titles and defended them under the Freebird Rule.
  
  Candido then moved on to Smokey Mountain Wrestling where he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in a 10-man tournament. The Title had been vacated just months prior by Shane Douglas during his infamous incident in which he threw the belt down. Candido held the belt for three months before dropping it to Dan "The Beast" Severn.
  
  Candido then moved on to WWE where he had a brief run as Tag Champion along with Tom Prichard as The Bodydonnas.
  
  Candido then moved back to ECW where he started one of his most famous runs as part of Shane Douglas' Triple Threat, along with Lance Storm and then fellow Sharpe trainee Bam Bam Bigelow. After having a brief fued with Storm, Candido captured his third ECW Tag Team Championship with him. They enjoyed a six month reign before dropping the Titles to the crowd favorite team of Sabu and Rob Van Dam. He then had a short-lived stint in WCW where he held the WCW Cruiserweight Title for a month and reformed the Triple Threat with Douglas, Bam Bam, and long-time manager and now wife Tammy Lynn Sytch a.k.a. Sunny. He left WCW along with Sytch after Sytch had a falling out backstage.
  
  Candido wrestled with Xtreme Pro Wrestling for a while before joining TNA in 2005. During his short time there, he aided the young tag team The Naturals in their quest for TNA gold. The Naturals captured their second NWA World Tag Team Championship, and thier first with Candido as manager, on April 26, 2005, two days after Lockdown, by beating America's Most Wanted. Two days later Chris Candido passed away due to a blood clot.
  
  Candidio was one of the hardest working men in pro wrestling. He was never completely over with management or the fans, but he did his best to make up for it in the ring. He was a consumate worker, and he never hesitated to give back to the business that he loved. Although forgotten by most mainstream wrestling fans, hardcore fans will always remember him as one of the most underrated and talented tag wrestlers out there.

  2 comments Permalink

• Smackdown Review-4/25/08

  Posted on 4/30/08 8:06 PM

  Again, a thousand apologies for not being on top of my blogs this week. I'm trying to make sure I'm not posting more than a week after the show.
  
  I still hate Vicki Guerrero.
  
  I think the no DQ stipulation added to the main event was just excessive. Maybe if Taker and Batista had made more use out of it, but there's really no reason to add it on if you're not going to play it up. You're probably not going to get people suddenly tuning in or deciding to watch the entire show instead of just the first hour, and it's almost completely pointless if it's going to be a clean match 99% of the way through. I guess it did kind of facilitate the finish, but they could have just as easily had the ref knocked out.
  
  It's good to see CM Punk getting a good push finally. I keep dreading seeing him go for the World or WWE Titles, seeing as I'd rather have them re-establish the ECW Title as a World Title, but I like his push, nonetheless.
  
  CM Punk and Edge put on a great match with a good work, both wrestlers getting their turns working each other over, getting worked over, and putting on some impressive spots. The match featured some great chain wrestling, as well as some unique holds from CM Punk including a spinning armbar. Yeah, I've never seen it before either, but it's basically a spinning toehold executed on the arm instead. It also featured multiple Dusty finishes, the last of which saw a counter to the spear I've never seen before. The final finish let both men keep a good amount of momentum, with Edge coming out on top headed into the PPV.
  
  I still hate Jimmy Yang's gimmick. Thank god I didn't have to listen to that ridiculous hoe-down music this week.
  
  One thing I also hate is a heel portraying himself as an environmentalist. Can't we have someone the fans look up to advocate Earth Day?
  
  Miz seems to be improving. He seems to know how to work a LOT better than some of his peers who came into WWE pretty green. I still think he has room to improve as far as developing his own style, but he is certainly very high up on my list of most improved this past year due, in no small part, to his ability to work a match.
  
  Shannon Moore was equally impressive. He had some great spots, as always, and contributed a lot to the work of this match. As bad as I think the build for this fued has been, it has consistently produced good matches, and this one is no exception.
  
  I still hate Cherry.
  
  Cherry actually did a better job in her match against Natalya. I can't decide if WWE wants to make her look inept in the ring at first as part of her character, or if she really is one of these pseudo-model-wrestlers who won't take the time to understand working and selling. I do think they have a long way to go to build her back up as a legit opponent after her piss-poor debut against Victoria. In her match against Natalya I questioned the logic just about every time Natalya sold. If they can't break her of that, then I have a feeling she might be back on skates sooner than later.
  
  Natalya had a good showing. Like I said, any offense Cherry got in was pretty unplausible, but Natalya was still impressive. Good debut match with some wickedly tight slams.
  
  And look at this, a filler match for Backlash. Wow, 5 Divas who can wrestle and one wanna-be model against one Diva who can wrestle and 5 wanna-be models. I can't WAIT for that one.
  
  Hardy and MVP drew some good momentum and heat, respectively. Not that they really needed it, but the segment did help the build a lot, which I think has been lacking since Hardy's return.
  
  I had tacos before the show, so I had a sudden digestion emergency and was in the bathroom for exactly three minutes and seven seconds. I don't think I missed much.
  
  Undertaker was in prime for on Friday night, and Batista has never looked better. I really am impressed at what Batista has done with his ring performance. He's doing better works, he's got better, more controlled movements, he's doing more back and forth action, and he's selling better. I had almost given up on him completely no less than a year ago, and now I think he's finally starting to earn his spot in the main event.
  
  They had a good solid match, with some good spots and a good work. Not much filler, either. I'm so disinterested in the Batista/Michaels match that I'm pretty much indifferent about the ending, but it was still a good match.
  
  Overall, it was a VERY good show. the filler was minimal, but noticable. I think the Smackdown's Women's Division is getting a little ridiculous. All the faces are sub-par as far as ring skills are concerned, and the heels are some of the best in the biz. I think that if they're going to put on Women's matches on a show with only four women they should have their lesser talented Divas go up against more lesser talented Divas, and put the REAL talent like Natalya, Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Victoria, and Melina all on Raw in the Title hunt. I also think Kozlov is getting very old, very fast. The rest of the show, however, was great. Punk, Edge, Miz, Taker, Batista, and Shannon Moore all had VERY impressive showings, and there was a good build towards the PPV. Overall, a great show.

  3 comments Permalink

See all of theone86's wrestlingmarks blog (21 total)